Claus Luthe, a towering, but tragic, figure in the history of car design, died in Munich last month. His first job was at Fiat where he worked on the Cinquecento. Then he moved to the German firm NSU to work on the Ro80, launched in 1967. The most radical car ever made, its astonishing appearance, a perfect compliment to its astonishing technology, was Luthe's responsibility. He invested his creative effort in a dramatic wedge shape, made possible by the compact rotary engine. His aim was 'sleekness and elegance'. Its sculpted form looks and is aerodynamic, but this was entirely intuitive: the Ro80 was only tested after the shape had been decided. In 1990 Luthe, by now head of design at BMW, was jailed for two years for murdering his drug-addict son. BMW gave him back his job, but could not repair his reputation.

Alex Samuelson

Unknown Swedish glass engineer who won a competition for the design of a soft-drink container that could be recognised in the dark. The result was the ineffable Coca-Cola bottle, unchanged since 1916. Its contours and striations were inspired by the coca bean and the kola nut.

Jock Kinneir

Member of Britain's very first design consultancy, The Design Research Unit. An early job was the signage at Gatwick Airport, and his masterpiece is Britain's motorway and trunk road signage, begun in 1957 in a mood of Macmillan-era futurist euphoria. Timeless, understated, but beautifully intelligent, it is the best road signage in the world.

Douglas Scott

Trained as a silversmith then worked in New York for Raymond Loewy. Back in London, he designed the altogether more rational Routemaster bus. A perfect symbol of national virtues, its gentle curves made the huge vehicle less aggressive while its open-access platform was a manifesto for reasonableness and responsibility.